A word from … Marcel Fässler
The Swiss travels as championship leader to the Nürburgring with his team mates.
The summer break in the FIA World Endurance Championship WEC is over. Now, five races are on the agenda in twelve weekends. What are looking forward to the most?
It’s great that Le Mans sportscars are at the Nürburgring again for the first time in many years. Audi’s home race will definitely be a classic. By the way, it is also my home race, because no other track is closer to my home in Switzerland. I’m also really looking forward to the following race in Austin. And in Asia, the title battle then enters its crucial stage in Asia – they will be five fantastic races.
Your currently lead the standings together with your team mates André Lotterer and Benoît Tréluyer. There must surely be only one goal. How difficult will the title fight be this year, who are the strongest challengers?
We are highly motivated. The season so far shows how challenging the job is. Porsche is our strongest rival, has two excellent driver line-ups and continuously develops its technology. Our own team mates Lucas di Grassi, Loïc Duval and Oliver Jarvis should not be taken lightly. I also don’t want to write off Toyota.
A different classification for the racecar is valid from the Nürburgring, which appears to favor Audi slightly. Is this a help or are the remaining races about other qualities?
I’m pleased that the Audi R18 e-tron quattro is slightly better categorized again. However, we’ll only see the real performance level at the Nürburgring. For us it’s a question of approaching every race totally focused, to make no mistakes and to score as many points as possible. These are the strengths that will count.
Your team mates and you were World Champions in 2012 in the FIA WEC, in 2013 and 2014 championship runner-up, and now you are leading the standings again. You’ve won Le Mans three times. What has distinguished the Fässler/Lotterer/Tréluyer trio for so many years?
We form a close knit and harmonious team together with Audi Sport Team Joest, Audi Sport and our engineer Leena Gade. Every one of us knows how the other ticks and how we can exploit our respective strengths, even of the circumstances seem to be against us. Benoît, André and I have been driving together since 2010. Our success together strengthens the entire team.
Coming up next week
28–30/8 Sonoma (USA), Pirelli World Challenge, race 18 and 19
29–30/8 Moscow (RUS), DTM, race 11 and 12
29–30/8 Sachsenring (D), ADAC GT Masters, race 11 and 12
29–30/8 Sachsenring (D), Spezial Tourenwagen Trophy, race 7 and 8
29–30/8 Magny-Cours (F), French GT Championship, race 9 and 10
30/08 Nürburgring (D), WEC, round 4
30/08 Le Castellet (F), V de V Endurance Series, round 5
30/08 Suzuka (J), Super GT, round 5
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